To chart our way forward we must know why we are and where we are.

The instruments of the Anglican Communion have yet to give any clear message about its theological and moral identity. Some may say nothing formal has changed. But people are not blind. For ten years clear orthodox biblical and Christian teaching about marriage has been flouted in some Anglican provinces, dioceses and parishes around the world. No action has been taken. Protestors have been deposed, removed from their orders, and sued for their property: not only in North America. Bishop Robinson Cavalcanti of Recife is even now being sued for possession of their churches and needs $10,000 in legal costs by December 1.

In some provinces Anglican identity is minimal. Holy Communion is offered to believer and non-believer alike. The Anglican table has to be open for debate to those of contradictory viewpoints on doctrine and morality. What are people to conclude?

So GAFCON was called in order to go back to our roots in scripture and in the land of the Bible to hear what God would say to us now, and to rediscover who we are. The issues continue to be discussed and I would like to share what some of us have been turning over in the last few weeks.

The Jerusalem Declaration states historic Anglican orthodoxy. As a former general secretary of EFAC, Vinay Samuel, has pointed out, the growing churches gathered at GAFCON had over the last 40 years embraced the distinctives of evangelical orthodoxy as set out at the first NEAC at Keele. Keele enabled evangelical Anglicans to have a theological home in an Anglican Church the life of which was based on principled comprehension. Two-thirds of the non-western Anglican Churches are biblically faithful Anglicans of the evangelical variety.

The leaders who called GAFCON are now guarding that heritage in the wider Communion. When their calls for order and discipline in the Communion were met with inaction, or action that would not address this issue, they decided to take action and define what Anglicanism was. They focused on the Lordship of Jesus, the authority of the scriptures, the kingdom of God, the centrality of a strong doctrine of the cross, enterprise solutions to poverty and the gospel’s engagement with secularism and religion.

I asked Richard Bewes as GAFCON closed to take the message back to John Stott, that this was the fruit of his stance and ministry: a global Anglican gathering affirming orthodox Anglican teaching and mission.

John Stott and his colleagues were robust in affirming and defending Evangelical Anglican ‘distinctives’. Diversity, which was seen as arising from the different charisms, the Holy Spirit gifts, and resulting in differences in ministry approach and emphasis, was included. The "Spiritual Capital" of the evangelical movement was, and is, its resolute adherence to its scriptural and Christological distinctives, and not being a big tent of inclusion. Thus every effort was made to ensure that the stress on those distinctives was not a source of divisiveness by showing that they were actually at the heart of Anglican orthodoxy.

Critics have always tried to caricature that position as narrow and divisive. Some people are sociologically uncomfortable with rejecting other positions, wanting instead to include as many opinions as possible. But that passion for diversity pushes distinctiveness to the margins. It makes inclusion the ruling distinctive. Where diversity is the prevailing culture, inclusion and diversity become the overriding concern, and is superimposed on the reading of evangelical history and identity.

The drive for diversity must not be allowed to divert us from our vocation to witness to our evangelical Anglican distinctives. Some have already paid a significant price for such a stand, particularly some evangelical bishops.

One of the miracles of GAFCON was that those from an evangelical heritage, charismatic and classical, and those from an orthodox anglo-catholic heritage were able to unite together in worship, fellowship and in affirming the Jerusalem Declaration and Statement. As Vaughan Roberts said recently, GAFCON was not Reform International. It was principled and comprehensive Anglicanism. No one had to deny their emphases. Discussions certainly need to continue between these heritages on the nature of ordination and its role in mission.

The Jerusalem Declaration and Statement asserts an identity for the Global Anglican Communion that is robustly orthodox, and that we share with over 40 million out of 55 million Church-going Anglicans worldwide who are not just like us – indeed GAFCON expressed some of the wonder of the gospel in overcoming the divides of race, gender and class.

We refuse to abandon our space in the Church of England. The Church of England has always been focused on parishes: the 39 articles speaks of the visible church of Christ is a congregation of faithful people in which the word of God is preached and the sacraments administered. We build on the space we have, strengthen it, and relate it closely to the Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans and the Primates Council. We will keep formal administrative links with the formal Church of England, but our real identity is with Global Anglicanism as defined by the Jerusalem statement and declaration.

GAFCON is our connection to the Global Anglican Communion. The GAFCON Primates and bishops are the true successors to John Stott. The Canterbury network is unsure and even confused about what Global Anglicanism means. GAFCON has taken a different direction. People in the majority world are Anglicans because of the biblical faith they have received from Anglican churches, not because of approval by one structure or institution or another. Our unity is based on unity in revealed truth.

The first goal of the GAFCON movement is missional. We need to preach the biblical gospel so that all over the world people will have the transforming experience of coming to know Christ through repentance and faith by the power of the Spirit. The second goal is to provide aid to those faithful Anglicans who have been forced to disaffiliate from their original spiritual homes by false teaching and practice. They need recognition and authentication as Anglicans.

In this culture of secular hedonism there is a need to give public and institutional expression to the truth of the gospel in the public ordering of the church. Not an order that accepts unlimited diversity and disobedience to the truth, but one that respects the order God has given for authority in his church and wholesomeness in society. This cannot be done by staying home and saying you disagree with what is happening in the church personally and privately or even publicly but do nothing about it. Firm and clear public witness and being willing to pay the price for it are what is needed at the moment.

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To read the other speeches, click the name:
Perkins / Sinclair / Nazir-Ali / Ovey / Broadbent / The Debate